We all spend a lot of time thinking about the future. But the truth is, the world is complex and the future is not pre-determined.We will shape the future based on our actions - or inactions - today. 

That’s what it means to live in an exponential age. It presents limitless opportunity, but also creates paralysis. How do you decide what to work on, or not? How do you convince other people to work with you to make it happen? 

Often organizations respond by throwing technology at the wall to see what sticks, but the problem is that people aren't changing nearly as fast as technology. What we need are practical tools that are built to first change human behavior.  

 

Our Mission

We want to make organizations better and faster at achieving meaningful transformation - for themselves, their customers and the world. We've built a system, based on validated models of behavioral change, to help make this possible. 

Strategic Narrative

Story was the first human innovation. It’s how we understand, remember and pass down information. Stories help our brains create relationships between complex data points, and trigger the release of oxytocin, the empathy hormone.

Strong narratives, complete with compelling characters, conflict and resolution, have changed the world countless times. They can also change your organization.

Create and Share a Future Vision

  • Use story to explore probable, possible futures and set a strategic vision

    • Guide the organization by exploring what to work on – and not work on

    • Understand the future as malleable, based on present actions

  • Refine stories into a narrative artifact and conduct neuro testing to optimize the message and medium

  • Boost employee storytelling skills

Work Backward to Bring the Story to Life

  • Deconstruct the narrative into a strategic roadmap that lays out achievable steps to realizing the transformational vision

  • Strategically disseminate the narrative among internal and external audiences to build alignment

    • Convince partners to join you in building the vision

    • Create signal to attract uncommon partners who share your vision

Experimental Design & NEUROPROTOTYPING

When building something new, it's hard to find signs that you are heading in the right direction. Traditional metrics can kill nascent ideas before they are ready. Experimental design can help isolate independent and dependent variables to reveal exactly which elements are working, or not. 

Research has revealed that when making choices, people rely first on our irrational unconscious – gut feelings. That's why we helped build neuroprototyping (TM) tools that gather unprecedented insight into what people can’t always tell us - whether they’re bored, stressed, or engaged; their emotional response; and visual attention.

Product and Service Development

  • Conduct testing beginning with the concept, and through to prototyping and product/service launch

  • Testing can be conducted in live or virtual environments

  • Build intuitive solutions that meet end-users where they are today

Improve Communication and Environments

  • Optimize the message and the medium for creating narrative artifacts, presentations, and marketing

  • Improve likelihood of changing behavior and perceptions among target audiences

  • Train and assess presenters

  • Assess and modify environments, ranging from retail stores to interior and exterior designs and architectural elements

UNCOMMON PARTNERS

Often, the greatest opportunities for impact will come from bringing together people and organizations who never usually work together around a common, bold purpose.

Our network is broad, and its collective expertise is deep. We help clients identify Uncommon Partners (TM) and help them construct partnerships designed to create value and produce unexpected outcomes. We’ll work with you to curate the right group of partners to bring your narrative vision to life.